Account-based marketing (ABM) is becoming more popular as companies begin to realize that traditional funnel marketing does not produce the same results it used to in the B2B space. ABM gives the ability to personalize sales and marketing outreach on the account level, and technology helps us do it at scale.

In this article, we uncover the best tactics you can implement in your ABM strategy to personalize your outreach for marketing, sales & service.

If you’re not 100% sure what ABM is you can learn more about it here – What is Account-Based Marketing (ABM)?

Account-based marketing is a topic on the rise of popularity due to the evolution of digital content, which has led to changes in business to business (B2B) sales. With the rise of digital content, buyers are more well informed than ever, and the number of stakeholders involved in the decision process has increased.

This in turn, has resulted in longer sales cycles and has left customers in full control with the ability to research and identify profitable decisions before they are made. This means that one’s approach must be much more personalized and highly relevant in order to cut through the online noise and get through to key decision-makers. This has led many companies to adopt new ways of reaching their audience, and this strategy is being referred to as “Account-Based Marketing”.

Although so many have chosen to adopt this highly personalized, and hyper-focused strategy, you might be wondering if ABM is also right for you. After reading this article, you’ll be able to make an educated decision — Is account-based marketing right for you?

Please Note: If you’re reading this article because you’ve heard ABM is the best way to convert more enterprise deals, well.. you’re right. But if you work at a start-up or are looking to enter the enterprise market to go after the “Big Fish”, you first have to be real with your self and ask “does the solution that I offer match the expectations of enterprise corporations?” and “is my solution as good as the other vendors?“

Let’s first make sure we’re all on the same page about what account-based marketing means. ABM is a strategy that involves unified coordination between sales, marketing, and the customer success team. By working together, an ideal customer profile is chosen, and target accounts are selected based on the ideal customer profile’s (ICP) criteria and are segmented into 3 categories, tier 1, tier 2, tier 3.

Marketing campaigns and sales outreach work hand in hand, targeting a specific set of accounts. There are 3 different types of account-based marketing depending on the tier an account, is segmented into: 1 to 1, 1 to few, and 1 to many approach. ABM increases the chances of closing higher ticket deals because specific target accounts due to a more targeted and personalized approach.

Personalized campaigns are created for specific accounts, and success of the campaign is measure on metrics such as engagement time, conversations created, and the amount of meaningful engagement created. (Different metrics than traditional funnel marketing)

ABM isn’t as new as most people think. If you look at the info graph below you’ll see that it’s been around for years!

Click Here to see the full ABM trend report.

Is Account-Based Marketing (ABM) The Right Fit For Your Organization?

Below are some important questions you can ask yourself to determine if Account-Based Marketing is the right fit for your company.

Are you in the B2B space?

Business-to-business – “B2B” – refers to commerce between two businesses rather than to commerce between a business and an individual consumer (B2C).  

At the core of account-based marketing (ABM), is nurturing prospects on the account level. Large corporations or enterprises comprise of a complex decision-making process involving more than one individual.

Therefore, the marketing and sales journey should also include decision-makers. It’s important to know that ABM is not relevant to B2C because you’re working on the lead level. With that being said, account-based marketing will only work for B2B companies since you need “accounts”.

What is a new customer worth to you?

ABM requires consistent effort from everyone on your team, especially in the beginning phases. In order to see a good return on investment with account-based marketing in the later stages, the annual contract value (ACV) for your enterprise deals needs to be a significant amount in comparison to all other deals you have closed. You need to be honest with yourself and ask whether the juice is worth the squeeze.

A great way to determine what a new customer is worth to you is by calculating the lifetime value (LTV) of a quality enterprise customer.

How to calculate Life Time Value (LTV) of a customer: 

LTV = (Average Purchase Value – Average Purchase Frequency) x Average Customer Lifespan

Average Purchase Value = Total Revenue / # of Purchases
Average Purchase Frequency = # Purchases / Unique Customers
Average Customer Lifespan = Customer Lifespans Total / # of Customers Used in Equation

Estimating a customer’s lifetime value can help you decide whether ABM is right for you. You can determine whether you will be spending too much on a campaign to target accounts by comparing the potential lifetime value of a customer to their customer acquisition cost.

Understanding the opportunities that come along with acquiring a certain customer and the life time value will help decide whether spending time and resources on an ABM is strategy is the right thing to do.

What is your Total Addressable Market (TAM) number?

Total addressable market (TAM), also called total available market, is a term that is used to reference the revenue opportunity available for a product or service.

How to calculate total addressable market (TAM) number: 
TAM = (Annual Contract Value) x (# of possible Accounts). Learn more about it Here

Is your team open-minded?

Having an open mind and having the courage to try new things is always a favorable trait to have — especially in business. But this is something your entire team needs to have.

We still see so many companies using old selling tactics like in the Wall Street days where cold calling all day was the only way to get a “yes” or “no” without the help of marketing. This aggressive, one-touch point method is far outdated, but those who are still doing it are those who have not adapted to the modern population.

Even if this is your current technique, it doesn’t mean that ABM is not fit for you. But in order to implement a successful ABM strategy, your whole organization needs to buy into the idea, and be willing to learn and adapt to new situations. They have to be ready to change their approach to a more strategic and meaningful one. It also won’t be easy for marketing since they need to learn how to flip the funnel, market on the account level, and have transparent communication with the sales team.

Implementing a new strategy requires a lot of effort and even more so when the whole organization needs to change its traditional ways of doing business. This is why getting help from a consulting agency like Vertex Marketing Agency can help make that switch smoother.

The New Reality Of B2B Marketing

If you’ve answered yes to all these questions, it would indicate that account-based marketing is right for your organization! As ABM becomes more and more popular — as I’ve shown in the info-graph here, the ABM market will soon be saturated and will simply be known as good B2B marketing for its the ability to identify, target and engage meaningfully with the most ideal customers for your company.

When deciding to implement ABM as a strategy to help your organization close more high-ticket deals, you must not cease to include inbound marketing as part of your strategy. Though ABM itself can produce powerful results, ABM actually works really well with inbound! It allows you to expand lower-tiered target accounts by identifying who, of inbound leads is worthy based on your ICP, and create & engage more meaningfully with them on the account level.

Account based intelligence has become the fuel for highly targeted sales and marketing. As sales and marketing shifts in accordance with trends, so too do the way we collect information.

Companies no longer rely on traditional, static methods of data collection in order to create targets. Instead, information exists that allows them to personalize products and services for better chances of sales.

Account based intelligence is a highly popular method of generating this useful information. It combines various static and dynamic information points to create an overview of the target account. Sales and marketing teams can then use this to build customized strategies that are more efficient at gaining sales.

What is account based intelligence?

Account based intelligence (ABI) is the term given to data collected about an accounts’ behavior and activity in the market. It provides insight into their likelihood of buying, through a combination of static and dynamic data that is constantly being updated.

ABI is a facet of account based marketing (ABM). This is the practice of tailoring products and services directly to the target account, based on information you have gathered. You can efficiently target high-value accounts and offer exactly what you know they need.

This process requires careful engineering from both sales and marketing teams to deliver successful results. Gathering ABI is what enables you to tailor your products to each account appropriately.

There are four main types of information that when used together, form account-based intelligence. These are:

Firmographic data

Firmographic data is the easiest to obtain because it is so static. This form of accounts-based intelligence is about annual revenue and the wider industry, to facilitate account segmentation.
This information can then be used as foundational information for more specific marketing and sales.
Because this form of data is relatively easy to collect, there is no shortage of tools that provide this service.

Behavioural data

This data helps to understand the behavior of accounts, and whether they are interested or not.This type of data is incredibly dynamic, and can be used to understand daily website visits, and what times are peak traffic times.

By focusing on accounts that are already clearly interested, there is a much greater chance of success. This also helps to more efficiently use resources where they are likely to see positive results.

Contextual data

Provides information on how accounts utilize technology, budgets for said technology, and other information, such as contracts with competing vendors. This data is not useful for all companies but is helpful for those in the digital space.

It is product-specific, making it incredibly valuable information. This form of data goes hand in hand with technographic data, to fill in the gaps.

Contextual data takes information about what technology accounts are using but then looks further into how they are using it. Gathering all four elements of account based intelligence help to create a bigger picture regarding a target account. This information can then be fed into account based marketing strategies.

 Software for account-based intelligence

There is no shortage of software and resources online that provide different analysis tools required to generate account-based intelligence. Each type of data generally requires different tools to collect and understand it, so you may need to invest in multiple types.

These tools include Intricately (for contextual data), Bombora (for behavioral data), Datanyze (for technographic data) and Leadgnome (for firmographic data). Each tool provides a specific type of data, and all are necessary to create ABI. Some platforms, such as Contify, promise to provide a holistic approach to ABI, and deliver multiple forms of data together.

Regardless of what method you choose, these various forms of software are generally easy to find online. Currently, there is no magical tool to provide in-depth data to analyze all types of account-based intelligence. Your company will need to invest in multiple types of software and take the time to use them all.

Dedicated staff must understand each form, to then be able to use it efficiently. To really profit from ABI, it is suggested that you use it in both sales and marketing. This encourages the departments to converge, and ensures they are both working towards the same overarching goals.

An example of using account-based intelligence

There are so many different ways that ABI can be utilized. A perfect example of this type of intelligence is gathering information from email exchanges. Most inbound marketing already uses email campaigns to generate interest. ABI just works upon existing strategies to improve their efficiency and outputs.

There is a wealth of information to be gained from email exchanges, even bounced emails. “Out of office” and “left the company” emails are still generating useful information for your business, if you use them.

These emails will still provide details such as signatures, current position, other contact information, etc. This information can be used to then find more information through alternative means. It can also be used to create a sales pitch based on their status or needs within a company.

The most common issue is the way in which this information is handled. It is not feasible to manually scan through every email received for information that must then be updated into a CRM system. It is possible that your business is small so you can perform these tasks, but it is not scalable.

Ideally, you are creating systems that will still work as your business grows and develops no matter what the size is. You want to set up systems that can grow and develop as your company does. Because of this, ABI software becomes a good investment.

Generate Sales

Once you have your ABI software up and running, you can use it to generate sales. But It’s also necessary to maintain the integrity of a database generated from ABI. ABI is already known to be dynamic in a lot of cases, and it is not enough to just collate the data.

Individuals get promoted within a company, leave a company, or change their email address/phone number frequently. The data is changing, and you need to keep up with that. If information is not maintained, it becomes inaccurate and useless.

Your company’s target profile needs to reflect these changes, in order to alter the way you are marketing your products. ABI must be accurate in order to form a successful base for personalized marketing. If the ABI is outdated, then it becomes a waste of resources.

How do sales and marketing use account based intelligence?

Sales and marketing teams can both benefit from ABI, and utilize it to add value to your organization. How it is utilized will vary, but there are a few general principles that should be followed. These generally refer to planning, execution of ABI, and altering/maintaining.

• Although sales and marketing teams will use ABI in slightly different ways, they need to plan strategies together. The purpose of ABI is to improve the success of both teams, but this only happens when they are aligned. Staff can agree on definitions and actions that benefit both teams, which then benefits the company. Incentives need to be created that drive not only individual success but also alignment for mutual success.

• Accounts and marketing teams then need to agree on a strategy that executes these developed plans. These must be ways that marketing and sales can work both independently and together. For example, how tools designed by and for the sales team can also be used to benefit marketing goals.

• As has already been stated, ABI is not totally static. There is a need to update information, as well as procedures to gain information. Sales and marketing need to engage in a continual process of reviewing and updating standards. When issues arise, solutions can be created that are mutually beneficial and are more accurate.

Creating a system where sales and marketing teams can both use ABI will increase the successes of both teams. Alignment helps to streamline work, by reducing inefficiencies between departments. Creating a mutual focus for sales and marketing through ABI brings them closer together, and increases success. The effort it takes to create and maintain appropriate systems is worth it, thanks to the improved sales.

How will ABI work for your company?

Account based intelligence (ABI) is a method of data collection that provides different types of information about potential leads. It is comprises four main data types: firmographic, technographic, behavioral, and contextual. These separate data types are collated, often using different software, and ultimately curate a wider picture of target accounts. When used in conjunction with each other, sales and marketing teams can personalize their pitches, increasing the chances of success.

Sales and marketing teams can both benefit from ABI, for their own personal intentions, as well as mutual gain. In order to see maximum growth for your company, these two departments should work closely together. ABI processes should be developed, executed and updated/maintained with input from both departments, to ensure mutual benefit.

If you feel as though your business would benefit from adopting ABI methods, Vertex Marketing Agency can help. We provide our services to numerous B2B and SaaS companies looking to utilize ABI. Our services are comprehensive as possible. They involve not only the software necessary to build account intelligence, but also the insight into how to use it. We offer training for using the software and strategies that you can implement in order to gain the biggest returns.

Sales and marketing alignment is one of the most important things you can do for your business in the digital age. This helps to bring the teams closer together, and streamline their work towards a common goal.

Although marketing and sales are two unique departments, their alignment will help to facilitate greater production and development for both aspects.

Ultimately, all facets of a company work to grow the organization through their various goals. Siloing departments are no longer seen as the ideal way to improve outputs. Growth and development need to occur together, for the mutual benefit of all.

There are a number of ways that you can go about aligning your teams. Some methods are more intentional and rigid than others, and some let it happen organically. There are pros and cons to both styles, depending on your company.

10 Best Tips on Aligning Sales and Marketing

Here are the top 10 tips for sales and marketing alignment:

1. Agree on an ICP

It is imperative that your sales and marketing teams collectively agree on an ideal customer profile (ICP). It is entirely possible that different departments will have contrasting ideas about characteristics for your ICP, so this needs to be figured out together. These characteristics need to be relevant for your entire company, not just one team.

One of the best ways to determine your company’s ICP is to have each department individually work out their ideal ICP. This can be done through a questionnaire that clearly defines ideal characteristics.

Then collectively, each team can share their results to create an ICP that is the result of compromise and benefit to the whole company, not just their specific focus.

2. Establish communication between Sales and Marketing teams

Almost all “Software as a Service” (SaaS) companies experience a silo mentality between different departments, including their sales and marketing teams. In traditional industries, these were seen as separate entities.

However when it comes to account-based marketing (ABM), the more communication, the better the results.

It’s imperative to encourage communication and the facilitation of sharing information between these two departments. Do this by scheduling meetings together, encouraging team bonding, and facilitating communication channels that all teams can access.

3. Full transparency

When sales and marketing teams are both working on an account, there should be complete transparency between the two groups. Facilitate shared access to separate quarterly plans, goals, and important discussions, so that everyone is on the same page.

Marketing should be aware of how many opportunities the sales team requires for any particular month. This provides them with the insight necessary to provide appropriate support and resources. Conversely, sales should be aware of the lead generation plans for certain accounts from marketing. They can, in turn, provide the necessary support to the marketing team.

This can occur in a number of different ways and will depend on your teams, and relative projects. But sharing all necessary information through online tools or through meetings will keep everyone in the loop. It is highly likely that information won’t overlap much, but it will make the world of difference when it does.

4. Learn to speak the same language

In traditional funnel marketing, a qualified lead is considered to be a marketing qualified lead (MQL). But ABM works at an accounts level and focuses primarily on marketing qualified accounts (MQA). The difference between these two concepts must be understood, to ensure that engagement is being tracked appropriately on both sides.

Engage your teams in regular training sessions to ensure that all teams are fully aware of what they are working towards. Define “meaningful engagement”, and allow your teams to come up with their own definitions, and then agree on a common meaning.

This needs to go beyond just meeting the needs of a client in a way that results in a sale. This helps people to understand if they are qualified to appropriately support a project.

Make sure that your sales messages are using appropriate language that can be understood by both teams, but also by the clients. Ensure that all pitches match what they are looking for and that all parties are talking about the same goals.

5. Put yourself in each others’ shoes

In order to truly understand the mindset of someone else, you must be willing to see things from their perspective. The best way to do this is to have someone from each team sit in on opposing meetings and crucial calls.

Allow them the time and space to discuss whether marketing strategies align with the goals of the sales team. Let them determine whether the sales team are over promising or under promising, based on the abilities of the marketing team.

When one team understands the expectations of the other, they are far more likely to provide the necessary support. This allows both teams to flourish.

6. Work towards the same goals

Your sales and marketing teams should be working towards the same overarching goals for your company, regardless of specific objectives. They both have different but equally important roles to play when creating and utilizing funnels.

It is necessary that both teams are represented when discussing future plans and goals, to ensure that both sides are fully on-board. Create an integrated team, comprised of a salesperson and a marketer who can meet and discuss their specific team’s goals.

This helps each team align themselves on the same path and provide the assistance that both teams need to succeed. This team can also discuss the best ways to integrate so that both teams benefit without reducing individual successes.

7. Let both teams in on revenue meetings

Marketing and sales teams are both ultimately working towards increasing the revenue for a company. Allow members from each team to sit in on these meetings. This allows space for each team to be represented, and offer relevant input.

It also provides opportunities for teams to understand how to offer support in the pursuit of common and unique goals.

Giving your team the opportunity to see how their work fits into the wider scheme of things can reinvigorate staff. Teams can directly exchange ideas and feedback, with immediate gratification. Revenue objectives can be discussed and agreed upon by both teams, making it easier to move forward.

8. Create incentives for your team

Both of your teams should essentially be working towards the same incentives. Creating common goals that both teams can work towards will streamline their efforts, and help to make your business grow.

Aligned incentives can help both teams understand the bigger picture they are working towards, not just specific goals. They are part of a bigger collective, and success is based upon everyone, not just them. Winning together often leads to larger gains, as opposed to personal victories.

Develop a healthy mix of separate and aligned incentives that bring your teams together, but still enable them to shine separately. How this looks will depend entirely on your company.

9. Set engagement goals

Make it a priority for your teams to work together on meaningful engagement. Engagement goals will help to facilitate stronger ties between sales and marketing, for mutual benefit to both teams. By making it a focus, staff may be more inclined to diversify their perspectives.

Ideal engagement may look different, depending on their perspectives. If both of your teams establish what winning engagement looks like, they can both strive towards this. This will help them work together to produce successful results in both marketing and sales.

10. Hire staff with diverse backgrounds

It is also helpful to hire marketing managers with strong sales backgrounds (or sales managers with a strong marketing background). They have experience working under a different set of goals and procedures, with a broader understanding.

This can help to bring the work of their team closer to the other team. Ultimately good leadership is not just about how well you can push staff, but how well you understand them.

Sales and marketing are two separate and different fields, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Selecting leaders who are aware of this enables them to encourage staff to think that way as well.

One Team

There are company-wide benefits to streamlining marketing and sales teams. Their unique purposes can be utilized in tandem to further increase interaction with target accounts, and closing sales. There are a number of ways that these two departments can become aligned, without detracting from their unique tasks. Account-based marketing (ABM) is a strategy that is used to help align sales and marketing. It aims to focus time and effort on leads that are more likely to become a sale. It is the process of personalizing a product or service to these target accounts, increasing the chance they will buy.

Here are ten broad suggestions, but alternative methods may work better for your company. What is most important is that your staff see the value in integration, and actively work towards alignment as well. If they value the change, however it plays out, they are more likely to enact it.

If you are looking to make a shift from traditional B2B marketing to ABM, Vertex Marketing Agency is here to help. We have experience as a consulting agency, helping other organizations make the shift to department alignment according to ABM principles. We can help you to maximize the potential of your sales and marketing teams, for better results all around.

ABM stands for Account-Based Marketing. ABM is a business strategy that involves unified coordination between the marketing team and the sales team to collaborate and appeal towards a specific set of target accounts that fit the organization’s ICP (Ideal Client Profile). This form of customized marketing solution is an improved alternative to traditional ways of reaching and engaging with the most profitable accounts in a given industry.

Rather than trying to attract anyone regardless if they are a good fit or not by simply placing a message out there, ABM allows you to tailor each and every message for specific target accounts. This creates much higher relevance and overall better relationships between you and your prospects. For B2B companies with high-ticket deals, ABM is an essential strategy.

Instead of generalizing marketing campaigns, businesses are “flipping” the traditional funnel and shifting towards an ABM strategy that not only provides a better return on investment but yields a much higher success rate.

The TEAM Framework

Account-based marketing (ABM) is structured in a way that is known as “flipping the funnel”, as in flipping the traditional marketing funnel that so many are used to. 

It can be structured into 4 steps, known as the “TEAM framework”, developed by Terminus, an account-based marketing automation platform.

TEAM is an acronym that stands for Target, Engage, Activate, Measure. 

What are the perks of Account-Based Marketing?

1. Return on Investment

According to the research of Alterra group, ABM strategy has performed extremely well in attracting new, high-paying customers. Using a personalized and precise tactic of marketing has yielded great benefits with a clear way of measuring Return on Investment.

Metrics used to measure ABM success is different than with traditional funnel marketing. Since companies are strategically chosen based on important ICP criteria, they are already pre-qualified.

2. Utilizing Marketing Budget

Most businesses follow a lead-based strategy. Instead of trying to find out which accounts are appropriate for your services, an ABM strategy allows you to spend money only on accounts that are relevant to your business. That way you not only save money on marketing but also save your valuable time and energy.

Using the traditional lead marketing strategy actually puts most of your marketing budget in the trash. Account-based marketing helps you get the best bang for your financial investments. As a result, you will be spending less time on marketing campaigns that don’t yield any profit or leads.

3. Shortens Sales Cycle

ABM helps to shorten the sales cycle that a marketer otherwise would have to go through. By targeting the decision-makers of important accounts through relevant content, account-based marketing acts as a catalyst that shortens the cycle of sales. Again, this helps businesses reach their target sooner without any waste of time or useless guesses.

4. Improved Customer Experience

How often have you been attacked by emails about products or services that you did not need? Or those generalized marketing emails made you unsubscribe them? Most B2B marketers fail to understand the importance of good customer experience. And that only can be achieved through customized products and services. With ABM, emails are tailored to your customer’s needs and may only be applicable for them, which increases customer experience and the chances of a potential deal increase significantly. 

5. Sales and Marketing Teams Collaborate

At the foundation of account-based marketing is complete transparency and alignment between sales and marketing. Most sales and marketing teams are siloed and lack communication. An ABM strategy requires your sales team and marketing teams to collaborate and work towards the same set of target accounts, with the same goals and evaluated using the same metrics. With ABM, you win and lose as a team.

Both teams identify potential client accounts, prepares personalized marketing campaigns for those accounts and progresses towards achieving a closed-won. Working on the same goals not only yields better results but also improves the revenue for the business